Welcome to Texas justice: You might beat the rap, but you won't beat the ride.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Who wants to help Anthony Graves get compensation?

Lisa Falkenberg at the Houston Chronicle wonders why Comptroller Susan Combs won't give compensation to Anthony Graves, noting that, "Texas' compensation law seems tailor-made for a guy like Graves, who was finally freed after nearly two decades behind bars including 12 years on death row, when it became clear he was innocent in the savage Somerville murders of a grandmother and five children." Falkenberg writes:

At first, I was hesitant to jump on the bandwagon of those attacking Combs' decision. She is not an attorney or a detective. If the paperwork doesn't say "innocent," it's not her job to go out and conduct her own investigation. And broadly interpreting the statute could open the floodgates for baseless compensation claims.

But, it turns out the comptroller's office has been widely inconsistent through the years in the way it has applied the versions of the compensation law, resulting in payments to some people whose cases were far less clear-cut or worthy of compensation than Graves'.

Then-Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn agreed several years ago to compensate 19 out of 21 of the folks who were caught up in the infamous 1999 Tulia drug bust, even though they'd received only general pardons, not pardons based on innocence, according to their Plainview attorney, Brent Hamilton.

The group included one person who served concurrent prison sentences when his probation was revoked on an unrelated drug charge. Strayhorn went so far as to seek an opinion from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott in 2007 on whether the man qualified for compensation. The AG said he did.

"You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard some of those folks got paid," said Amarillo attorney Jeff Blackburn, chief counsel for Innocence Project of Texas who handled some of the Tulia cases, in which convictions were tainted by prosecutorial misconduct and the perjured testimony of a rogue undercover investigator.

Earlier, Falkenberg suggested that the reason the local judge isn't willing to overtly declare Graves "innocent" to make him eligible for compensation is that her father was the presiding judge at Graves' original trial, as well as a former law partner of Charles Sebesta, the District Attorney who tried the case.

From where I stand, this doesn't seem to be a matter of law, but of "want to." The judge in the case could do it, but that'd make Daddy look bad so she doesn't want to. Falkenberg's probably right that the Comptroller could bestow compensation if she chose to do so, but she doesn't want to, either. And my personal view is that Governor Perry has all the authority he needs to grant Graves a pardon. Over at Pardon Power, historian P.S. Ruckman wrote that Governor Perry's self-imposed bar from pardoning Graves "seems to defy all reasonable interpretation of the clear meaning of the State's Constitution - as well as common sense and basic standards of fairness and decency."

When politicians say they want to help, their sincerity can best be measured by their actions, not the earnestness of their declarations. Time will tell who, if anybody, among these various officials, who all could help Mr. Graves, really wants to do so.

13 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I wonder how much the bleak state budget situation figures into this decision. Does anyone know specifically which part of the state budget provides the source of the funding for compensating those deemed wrongfully convicted? With all the billions about be carved away from public education and Medicaid, I'm afraid Mr. Graves may just be one of many left out when the pie finally gets divided.

For what it's worth, I doubt the budget disaster has anything to do with Mr. Graves compensation. That money is a drop in the bucket. It seems we are splitting hairs here. I suspect Mr. Graves will be compensated after jumping through some more hoops.

"If Graves receives compensation from the state, $80,000 for each year behind bars, he agrees never to pursue what one of his attorneys describes as "the mother of all civil rights lawsuits" against the state.

Paying Anthony Graves may well be the best deal the state of Texas ever made."

Go ahead and file that "mother of all civil rights lawsuits" then perry could be working for him.

I, personally, would love for Anthony to sue the hell out of this state. NOTHING short of a huge verdict is going to get anyones attention.

What you get in Austin in Perry's "pouty, hound-dog looking face" about how the system works and these guys should be compensated yet he and the idiots in the legislature have done very little to make sure it stops happening. Nothing like some huge payouts to make Whitmire and Ellis seem reasonable to the law and order mouthpieces of the GOP.

Why is it even allowed for a judge to work on a case over which her father originally presided? I would say there is a clear conflict of interest. How can she be unbiased? This would not be allowed in my country...

Where is Kelly Siegler in this? She should be an Anthony Graves cheerleader for compensation too. Anthony deserves this compensation after all that he and his family have been through. As Texans, we should be rushing to pay him this money and apologize for our misbehaviour. Yes, we are collectively responsible for this problem as long as we allow it to continue

Sadly in the backwoods of Texas we are light years away from doing the right thing and filing a "mother of all civil rights lawsuits" against the state of Texas. Lawsuits - bad! Isn't that what the big-money interests who rule the people in power, and those toeing the party-line, tell us? CHOOSING not to compensate Mr. Graves demonstrates the power imbalance and corruption of Texas.

I am angry that Texas has not yet compensated Anthony Graves for an injustice done to him by the State of Texas. At least I was glad to hear that some individual people stepped up and contributed some of their own money to him a few weeks after his release in a fundraising campaign for him by Texas Moratorium Network that raised $3,000. Now, it is time for the State to compensate him.

I just watched this horrible injustice that happened to Anthony Graves and just so you all know I'm white and I live in mn. so I'm saying why don't you get Jesse Jackson involved ? I bet he could get him his compensation, they might change their minds if they found out he was going to get involved. YES< I believe he deserves every penny, and then he could also pay his good friend back that put $10,000.00 up for his bail. or did he get that back? I just can't believe how the system works. I wish him the best.

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